In just a hundred days as the fourth elected Governor of Edo State, His Excellency, Sen. Monday Okpebholo has apparently set an unprecedented record of performance, which looks like lasting for ages to come. He has done astonishingly well that even those who doubted his credentials are by now convinced that a book may not be judged by its cover.
Of course, during the governorship campaign, the amiable, soft spoken Governor had promised Edo people a transformative development agenda powered by the spirit of a new Edo. He did not mince words about his accelerated development programme, signposted by the promise of constructing the first flyover in Benin City, in his first hundred days in office. And true to his words, less than a week in office, Governor Monday Okpebholo performed the ground-breaking of that project, which is currently under construction at the Ikpoba Hill Ramat Park area of the State Capital. That was the beginning of his 100 days giant strides of development.
Following the flag off of the Ramat Park Flyover, Governor Monday Okpebholo has greatly stimulated growth and development in all critical sectors of Edo State, including security, transportation, road construction, education, agriculture/food security, health and the traditional institution.
SECURITY
Prior to Governor Monday Okpebholo assuming office, the state of insecurity in Edo, fuelled by cult violence and killings, violent armed robberies, and kidnappings, had not only become frightening but embarrassing for a State that had in time past been regarded as the most secure and peaceful in Nigeria.
Governor Monday Okpebholo promptly demonstrated his non tolerance of factors that breed violence and insecurity by making a pronouncement against them and giving the police and other security agencies marching orders to practically and decisively find a solution. He did not stop at giving orders. He provided appropriate logistics and boosted the morale of the law enforcement and security forces. He went further, in collaboration with the Edo State House of Assembly, to review the Edo State Anti-cultism Law, making sure it discourages the antisocial behaviour.
Similarly, Governor Monday Okpebholo has pushed back armed robbers and kidnappers, who hitherto had a field day on the highways and the forests, to the fringes. The onslaught on them has been sustained, leading to significant of arrest of criminals elements and recovery of illegal firearms.
To achieve this level of success in curbing criminality and insecurity, the Governor took the following steps, among others. (1) He boosted the logistics and morale of the police and other security agencies in Edo State. (2) He procured properly fitted patrol vehicles for the security forces. (3) He reorganized and reinvigorated the Edo State Security Corps. To ensure professional and effective management of the Security Corps, he appointed a well trained and experienced retired police officer as Commandant.
TRANSPORTATION
In order to reduce undue harassment of drivers of commercial vehicles, and eradicate arbitrariness, Governor Monday Okpebholo abolished the collection of levies from bus and taxi drivers in the State. While the process is undergoing review to bring permanent sanity to the sector, the cost of transportation has by the Governor’s action been relatively stabilised. And commercial bus drivers have been saved from violent harassment which was the norm in the past.
ROAD CONSTRUCTION
As stated earlier, the Governor began his road infrastructure development programme with the construction of a flyover at the problematic Ramat Park area of Benin City.
Furthermore, despite the fact that the Ekpoma – Auchi – Okpella axis of the Benin Abuja Highway is a federal government road, Governor Monday Okpebholo has remained committed to its accelerated reconstruction for the sake of Edo people, who are the ones mostly affected by it deplorable condition.
The Governor has also ensured that contractors have returned to state roads that are under construction but had been abandoned for lack of supervision or proper funding. He has also approved the construction of a number of roads all over the State.
EDUCATION
Governor Monday Okpebholo has made significant strides in repositioning education for better outcomes in Edo State.
As a sign of his preparedness to go to lengths to secure a better environment for learning, he increased the monthly subvention to the state-owned Ambrose Alli University, AAU, from N41m to N500m. In addition, for proper management of the institution, in line with universal best practices, he constituted a Governing Council for it.
At the lower level of secondary education, Governor Monday Okpebholo, through the Universal Basic Education Board and the Ministry of Education, has begun the massive renovation and rehabilitation of classroom buildings in about 100 secondary schools across the state. In the same vein, in the month of January, he approved the appointment of 500 secondary school teachers as a prelude to filling existing vacancies in the school system in order to arrest the shortage of teaching staff in schools.
To boost the morale of teaching staff, the Governor recently approved the promotion of over 8,000 teachers in primary and junior secondary schools.
It is pertinent to note that as a mark of his great commitment to repositioning education, Governor Monday Okpebholo increased the budget for education by about 99 percent, in comparison to the preceding year. The education budget for 2024, prepared by the previous administration was N26b. Governor Monday Okpebholo increased it to N43.3b in the 2025 budget. This underscores the revolutionary mind-set of the Governor with regards to education.
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY
Governor Monday Okpebholo has demonstrated his resolve to make food abundant and cheap in Edo State by earmarking N90b for agriculture in the 2025 budget. This is in line with his agenda for food security in Edo State under his watch.
Meanwhile, he had in the first week of his resumption of office indicated his commitment to food security by abolishing the obnoxious market unions, which had reportedly been regulating trading activities and pricing of foodstuffs, which had resulted in exorbitant prices. With the abolition of the unions, which remains in force, the prices of food items witnessed a dramatic reduction across the State.
HEALTH
In the health sector, Governor Okpebholo has made a huge commitment towards the rebuilding of health facilities, including the Stella Obasanjo Hospital and the numerous health centres across the State.
JOB CREATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
With the numerous construction jobs financed by the Monday Okpebholo Government, over 1,000 direct jobs have been created. Similarly, thousands of indirect jobs have also been created.
As a testament to his empathy and magnanimity, Governor Monday Okpebholo converted the status of some 300 employees in the civil service as casual staff under an underpaying consultancy arrangement, to permanent and pensionable staff in the Edo State Civil Service.
THE TRADITIONAL INSTITUTION
Under the immediate past administration, the traditional institution, particularly the Palace of the Oba of Benin suffered systemic attacks backed by the state government. The authority of the Oba was covertly and overtly undermined. The statutory rights of the Oba was withheld by the state government.
In fulfilment of his pledge to uphold the dignity of and respect for the traditional institution, with particular reference to the Oba of Benin, Governor Monday Okpebholo wasted no time, upon resumption of office, in restoring the statutory rights of the Oba, which had been infringed upon by the immediate past administration.
CONCLUSION
Going by the fantastic projects and policies initiated by Governor Monday Okpebholo, as articulated above, it is no gainsaying that he has really set off on his journey of governance for the next four years, with unmistakable giant strides.
The next question may be, how sustainable is this unparalleled performance, which has become the benchmark for his milestones and overall achievement?
Although, not so well known beyond the senatorial district he represented before his nomination as the APC Governorship Candidate, and eventually the Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo’s antecedence of dedication, achievement, credibility and character, speaks volume of his consistency and trustworthiness. It is, therefore, safe to conclude that consistency of performance is in his gene. This being the case, one can say that as the morning foretells the day, the days ahead for Edo State under the guidance of Governor Monday Okpebholo with his very cooperative and competent Deputy, Rt. Hon. Dennis Idahosa, promise to be that of great developmental fulfilment.
Hon. Pius Alile is the Deputy Chief of Staff to Edo State Governor
